Pilot of the Airwaves - The Survival of the Seattle Pilots

[DD Martin]

MLB Awards for 1969 Season

As we head into the awards season, it is noted that we still have not signed a new manager to lead the team. We were going to speak with the legendary Walter Alston who had been let go by the Dodgers, but before we could talk to him he inexplicably agree to a contract with the Minnesota Twins Class A farm team in the Midwestern League at Wisconsin Rapids. A very odd move for a man that should be managing in the major leagues.

We moved our search and have had several good conversations with Alvin Dark but we were still reviewing and interviewing candidates and he agreed to a contract with the Cincinnati Reds minor league team in the Florida State League.

We then talked with both Gene Mauch fresh off a stint in Montreal and Don Gutteridge who had been in Chicago as a coach and bench coach for the White Sox over the years. Mauch had more experience but there were questions as to why he was shown the door so quickly in Montreal that needed to be answered.

Gold Glove Winners - AL
C - Gene Tenace (Oakland), 1B - Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota Twins), 2B - Bobby Knoop (#4) (California), 3B - Jerry Kenney (NY Yankees), SS - Ed Brinkman (Washington), LF - Rich Reese (Minnesota), CF Angel Bravo (Chicago), RF - Fred Valentine (Baltimore), P - Jim Palmer (Baltimore)

Everyone on the AL squad was a first time recipient except 2B Bobby Knoop who won his 4th Gold Glove Award.

Gold Glove Winnters - NL
C - Donald Johnson (Atlanta), 1B - John Mayberry (Houston), 2B - Dave Cash (Pittsburgh), 3B - Clete Boyer (Atlanta), SS - Dal Maxvill (#2) (San Diego), LF - Cleon Jones (NY Mets), CF Aaron Pointer (Chicago), RF - Amos Otis (NY Mets), P - Gaylord Perry (San Francisco)

Everyone in the NL was a first time winner as well with the except of San Diego's SS Dal Maxvill who won his 2nd.

AL Reliever of the Year Award
Sparky Lyle (Boston) was a unanimous choice in the voting. Lyle was 12-4 with 24 saves and a 1.86 ERA for the Red Sox.

Runners up
Bob Miller (Minnesota) 0-59
Jim Roland (Oakland) 0-18
Lindy McDaniel (NY) 0-15
Bill Butler (Kansas City) 0-4

NL Reliever of the Year Award
Jim Brewer of the LA Dodgers won the NL Reliever of the year. Brewer went 7-8 with 22 saves and 1.99 ERA for the Dodgers

Runners Up
Tommie Sisk (San Diego) 0-49
Luke Walker (Pittsburgh) 0-36
Wayne Granger (Cincinnati) 0-11

AL Platinum Stick Award Winners
P - Steve Hargan (Cleveland) 213/275/255
C - Bill Freehan (Detroit) 286/360/807 16HR 59 RBI 132
1B - Boog Powell (Baltimore) 338/420/1008 40HR 139 RBI
2B - Mike Andrews (Boston) 303/400/879 21HR 91 RBI
3B - Sal Bando 279/407/882 29 HR 106 RBI
SS - Rico Petrocelli (Boston) 311/407/527 32 HR 114 RBI
LF - Frank Howard (Washington) 300/365/917 46 HR 119 RBI
CF - Reggie Smith (Boston) 306/370/903 34 HR 105 RBI
RF - Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 290/427/992 41 HR 103 RBI

NL Platinum Stick Award Winners
P - Bill Hands (Chicago) 162/244/447
C - Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 326/370/913 27 HR 117 RBI
1B - Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 296/399/966 46 HR 117 RBI
2B - Joe Morgan (Houston) 260/387/797 17 HR 45
3B - Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh) 330/390/870 15 HR 73 RBI
SS - Dennis Menke (Houston) 311/395/826 6 HR 74 RBI
LF - Cleon Jones (New York) 356/425/934 17 HR 85 RBI
CF - Jim Wynn (Houston) 285/436/915 27 HR 94 RBI
RF - Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 337/391/919 18 HR 94 RBI

AL Rookie of the Year
This year's outstanding newcomer has been selected and the honor goes to the Baltimore Orioles rookie C Clifton Matthew. The talented Orioles catcher took the trophy hitting 270 in 101 games this season and finished with 7 home runs, 38 RBI's and 58 runs scored.

He received 16 of the 24 first places votes with 91 total points and beat out the following players
Danny Walton (Seattle) 7-47
Paul Ratliff (Minnesota) 1-26
Thurman Munson (New York) 0-24
Gene Tenace (Oakland) 0-22
Bobby Brooks (Oakland) 0-6

National League Rookie of the Year Award
In an incredibly close vote, Cincinnati rookie LF Bernie Carbo edged out Houston Astros SP Tom Griffin for the NL Rookie Award. Both Carbo and Griffin won 7 first place votes out of 24 in the incredibly split voting. Carbo hit 315 with 19 home runs and 92 RBI's

Voting Results
Bernie Carbo (Cincinnati) 7-65
Tom Griffin (Houston) 7-46
John Mayberry (Houston) 5-37
Amos Otis (New York) 2-26
Joe Hague - (St. Louis) 2-22
Cal Emery (Philadelphia) 1-13
Gary Gentry (New York) 0-7

[DD Martin]

A new Manager is in Town

The Seattle Pilots today announced that they have hired veteran skipper Gene Mauch to be new manager of the Pilots. Mauch has a career record of 702-790 over 10 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies (1960-68) and the expansion Montreal Expos in the 1969 season. Mauch was lauded for his time in Philadelphia where he took over a team that had struggled for years and built them into a competitive team winning as many as 92 games in 1964. His time in Montreal lasted only 1 season as the Expo's jettisoned both the manager and the GM after a 56-106 season.

Mauch steps into a familiar spot with the Pilots who were 53-109 last season in their first year. Mauch announced that with him he was hiring bench coach Don Gutteridge to join him in Seattle. It was noted that before Mauch signed a deal (rumored to be over 4 seasons) he wanted assurances that the club was 1.) Financially viable, 2.) would have new ownership, and 3.) The stadium situation would be addressed. While MLB owners have not formally approve the sale of the Pilots, it has cleared the first hurdle and a vote is expected at the Winter Meetings in a few weeks. It is also stated that Mauch has an escape clause in his contract if the sale of the team is not formally approved by MLB owners by the end of the calendar year.

Pilots GM DD Martin stated that Mauch was the type of manager he felt the organization needed to help build the team into a winner. He cautions that it will take time and that the organization because of the circumstances in the inaugural year are a bit behind, but he feels that the future is bright.

Manager of the Year
AL - Baltimore Earl Weaver 102-61 and World Series Championship
NL - Pittsburgh Larry Shepard 104-58, lost a 7 game World Series

AL Cy Young Award
Cleveland Indians SP Sam McDowell takes home the award as the best pitcher in the American League. While the Tribe had a very difficult season, McDowell was able to go 14-13 with a 1.78 ERA to garner the win.

AL Voting
Sam McDowell (Cleveland) 14-137
Andy Messersmith (California) 9-122
Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 1-77
Blue Moon Odom (Oakland) 0-26
Earl Wilson (Detroit) 0-21

NL Cy Young Award
Pittsburgh Pirate ace SP Bob Veale today was named the NL Cy Young Award Winner. Veale had a record of 20-10 with a 2.31 ERA for the NL Champions. Veale beat out teammates Bob Moose who finished 2nd and Dock Ellis who finished 3rd for the award.

NL Voting
Bob Veale (Pittsburgh) 14-134
Bob Moose (Pittsburgh) 6-109
Dock Ellis (Pittsburgh) 4-87
Denny Lemaster (Houston) 0-40
Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 0-28

AL MVP Award
Baltimore slugging 1B Boog Powell powered his way to win the 1969 MVP award beating out Oakland's RF Reggie Jackson. Powell hit 338 on the season with 40 home runs while driving in 139. Powell won 21 of the 24 first places votes, while Jackson earned 1 along with P Sam McDowell and P Jim Palmer splitting the other 3 first place votes.

AL MVP Voting
Boog Powell (Baltimore) 21-319
Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 1-206
Rico Petrocelli (Boston) 0-179
Frank Robinson (Baltimore) 0-117
Reggie Smith (Boston) 0-115

NL MVP Award
In a tight 3 man vote at the top, New York Mets LF Cleon Jones was awarded the NL MVP Award. Jones (10-246 votes) outlasted Pirates RF Roberto Clemente (5-229) and Giant 1B Willie McCovey (7-203) for the award. Jones led the NL in hits (217) and batting average (356) while also hitting 17 home runs, driving in 85 RBI's, stealing 20 bases and scoring 106 runs.

NL MVP Voting (4th and 5th)
Jim Wynn (Houston) 1-127
Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh) 0-121

[DD Martin]

Winter Meetings December 1969
Held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Well these winter meetings should be a lot less tense than the ones a year earlier in San Francisco. The owners spent a lot of time at those winter meetings dealing with the former Commissioner William Eckert and his subsequent firing. No such histrionics this time around as Bowie Kuhn had settled into the job and for the most part the owners were pleased with his first year.

For our group, the Seattle Pilots, we were just glad to be back at the meetings. Dewey Soriano was there, and some of the other partners in the team including majority owner George Weyerhauser and the younger Schoenfeld, Herb. Herb's uncle wanted no real part in gathering with the other baseball owners. He was involved with the Pilots for civic reasons, not parties with these guys.

Of course this was my first winter meeting and I was here with Club President Roy Hamey who was showing me around. The owners quickly dealt with the vote on the Pilots ownership and approved it to put that quickly to bed. That evening was when Roy told me to go out there and make some changes on this team. He felt there was no way we would be a factor for the next several years but he wanted us to get some building blocks in play and reminded me that we have a Triple-A club to fill out as well. He didn't want to see youngsters like Gorman Thomas forced up to play in the big leagues before they were ready.

So I got going and was in a lot of the GM meetings getting to know the guys at that level. To my surprise there was some interest in some of our players. I had been studying our 40-man roster (which wasn't full) to see who was capable of at least attempting to play in the majors. We also had some character issues and while they were not too great, I am a firm believer in character. Something my predecessor didn't seem to interested in .

The conversations were brisk and everyone I talked to of course was interested in our breakout rookie (who was jobbed for the rookie of the year award in my opinion) Danny Walton. His name came up often but there were others. I'll be honest during the course of the meetings I spoke a lot to the LA Dodger GM regarding their young 3B Ron Cey. I had long been a fan of Cey's since he was from my hometown of Tacoma, going to Mt. Tahoma High School. For me Cey was a local kid that could perhaps drawn some more interest from fans if we brought him in. The Dodgers said they would do a straight one for one trade with Cey for Walton. That trade didn't go down but it is still something that I am thinking of. I'm not really interested in trading Walton, but I'll be honest I considered it in that Cey deal. That deal won't get done here but me and the Dodgers are going to continue to talk.

We did make several deals while we were down here. Some just trading away a bit of salary and others trading away some of those character guys I mentioned. Most of the deals had us picking up a few extra players in the deals as well as we needed more players in our organization to fill out the rosters. Plus the fact we just needed more talent in this organization overall.

Trade #1 - Seattle Pilots and Atlanta Braves
We traded LF Wayne Comer, 25 (238/346/689 12-48) and minor league SP Ron Kotick, 24 (11-2 2.05) at our NY-Pen league team.

We received the following
1B Earl C Williams, 21 (AAA Richmond 333/414/1034 34-88)
RP Pablo Torrealba, 21 (AA Shreveport 3-37 4.00 ERA)
RP Tom House, 22 (AAA Richmond 1-2 4.20 ERA)
SS Leo Foster, 18 (A Greenville 216/281/559 1-26)

Thoughts - I met Comer at a team organizational meeting at the end of the season and well, I thought he was one of the bigger jerks there. I made up my mind then that when I got a chance I was going to trade him. His production didn't equal the clubhouse questions in my mind. We added a very young and exciting power bat to our team in Earl Williams. I not sure if he is ready for the majors but he is going to get a shot to break camp with us as our starting 1B. In Torrealba and House we picked up a pair of serviceable relievers and added depth to our organization where we didn't have a lot of depth, especially after our former GM traded most of the SP the organization had last July. Foster is a nice kid, but probably a long shot to see AAA.

Trade #2 - Seattle Pilots and Pittsburgh Pirates
We traded our starting 3B Mike Ferraro, 25 (261/302/655 3-31) to the Pirates for a trio of players.

RP Kent Tekulve, 22 (1-0 5.40 3.1 innings in Pittsburgh, 4-0-7 0.89 ERA in AAA ball)
LF Angel Mangual, 22 (245/289/718 13-58)
3B Lou Quinn, 22 (305/357/873 7-27 at AAA)

Thoughts - What we got was what I believe with be a stud stopper in our bullpen for years to come in Tekulve. I love that submarine motion he has to the plate. He keeps the ball down low and in the park. We also got 2 players who might not be with us a long time but have some decent stats. Angel Mangual could be a solid player, but he might let his mouth do too much talking, at least for my liking. He has some power and should be able to hit for average and is only 22. 3B Lou Quinn, 22 is a power hitting quote machine that the papers will love although I'm not sure his teammates will. They might have some flip value down the road after the draft if we decide not to keep them. Tekulve was the prize in this deal though.

Trade #3 - Seattle Pilots and Philadelphia Phillies
We acquired our first veteran type player in RF Johnny Callison, 30 (214/273/609 4-21), along with SP Dave Bennett, 24 (6-0 1.83 ERA at AAA). We gave up on RF Tom Kelly, 19 who hit a disappointing 265 at Billings in the Pioneer League.

Thoughts - Might have been early to give up on Kelly but the goal was getting a decent SP in Dave Bennett. I know Marvin Milkes didn't think so but we need to have at least 5 guys who can throw 120 or so every 5 days. It is just one of those necessities of the game. Callison is a veteran hitter who struggled in Phily last season, but the budget strapped Phils retained a large portion of his salary so maybe again if he doesn't work out for us someone might want him on a less than league minimum deal.

Trade #4 - Seattle Pilots and Minnesota Twins
Generally I'm not a huge fan of trading with a team in our division but the opportunity to clear some salary and some character issues and get a couple of solid players was too much to pass up.

We traded Jose Santiago 29 who Milkes mistakenly offered a contract too on his last day ($75,000) and 1B/OF Mike Hegan 27 who clubbed 14 home runs but you would have thought by his talk that he hit 40.

What we got as the following
C Rick Dempsey, 20 (333/407/458 at AA) and SP Chuck Murray (4-7-2 2.39 ERA at AAA Denver)

Thoughts - We received one of the top defensive young catchers in the game in Dempsey. Depending on the direction we go in the draft, with the top 2 guys on most boards being a catcher, we could double down or go in a different direction because of this signing. Murray who isn't a superstar has some decent talent as he pitched to a sub 3.00 ERA in Denver and the American Association.

Winter Meetings Summary
My overall thoughts on the winter meetings was it was a great experience to go down and mingle with all my peers and see all the moving and shaking that goes on at one of these things. We added young talent to our organization which I feel is a vital piece of our organizations development. Whether it all pans out or not, we shall see but I feel that we didn't get up a ton and got back some useful pieces to the puzzle.

By the way we were not the only team busy at the winter meetings. There were a few other trades that went down.

The Expansion Padres and New York Mets got together on a deal that sent the Mets RP Al McBean, 31 (4-12 5.40) in exchange for AA RF Curtis Brown, 24 and Class A 3B Billy Carthel, 23). Nothing too sexy there but it is of note that before the meetings were over the Met's had DFA their new acquisition McBean. It kind of left me scratching my head.

The Washington Senators and Houston Astros got together on a deal that send young 18-year-old AAA 2B Stan Papi and Class A 3B Bob Jones, 21 to the Senators, while Houston got MLB veteran OF Ed Stroud, 30 (only hit 202 in 521 AB) and the #124 prospect in the game in C John Wockenfuss, 20.

The Senators and St. Louis Cardinals pulled off a 2-player deal where St. Louis received RP Eddie Fisher, 33 (3-3-1 3.67) in exchange for Class A SS John Nixon.

Thoughts on the Senators - Maybe we need to go see if they are giving away any assets since they like Philadelphia are over their operating budget for 1970.

[DD Martin]

It’s Draft Day
Hours before the Pilots, who have been on the clock since the end of the season, are to make their pick.

The board has 3 names on it.

C Darrell Porter $180,000 very hard to sign (Sporting News #1 overall in mock draft)

LF Dave Parker $170,000 hard to sign (Sporting News #3 overall in mock draft)

SP Rick Rueschel $75,000 easy to sign (Sporting News #7 overall in mock draft)

According to the Seattle P-I, they believe the Pilots will select OF Dave Parker, over Rick Rueschel. The P-I feels that the trade that brought in Rick Dempsey will allow them to address other areas.

The Sporting News is sticking to the theory of that either Porter or C Mike Ivie will be the Pilots choice.

KOMO Sports Anchor Bruce King feels that the desperate need for pitching and cost effectiveness of Rueschel’s bonus demands make him the odds on choice.

It’s almost time for the Pilots to make that decision and set the tone for the future of the franchise.

[DD Martin]

Draft Day Decision Time

It was time, for my first pick as a GM. Most likely this will be one of my most scrutinized picks in my career. A lot of people are watching the Seattle situation after last years disastrous season.

We phoned in our pick to the league office and it would surprise many in baseball. To add to the situation between Porter, Ivie and Parker, our scout came up and said at the end of the day he would take P Rich Gossage. He thought Gossage had the stamina and ability to make an excellent SP. Gossage was on our overall Top 10 board but I was not really thinking that a high school pitcher from cold wintry Chicago was the right choice for us.

I respectfully talked with our head scout on why I felt that Rick Reuschel would be better. I liked that he was a bit older and he had a chance to bring spring training with us and fill in one of our spots this season. He had a lot of talent and our scout admitted he was #2 on his board. While Parker, Porter and Ivie were all talented, I felt our more pressing need was pitching and a lot of it. Right or wrong I felt that acquiring position players was a bit easier than acquiring solid pitchers. So with the first selection in the 1969 (December draft) MLB Draft, the Seattle Pilots select

RHSP Rick Reuschel (20) 2/4* (Drafted Round 1 - Pick #1)
Reuschel throws an assortment of 5 pitches and while he will not have big strikeout numbers, he will keep the ball in the park. With his elite command and control he will limit the number free passes. While he is not there yet, Reuschel appears headed to the top of a team's rotation. Rueschel accepted our below slot offer of $117,000 to join the Pilots and this will give us some extra money to pin down Andujar if needed.

RHSP Joaquin Andujar (17) (Drafted Round 2 - Pick #25 overall)who had committed to Florida State University. The Youngster has 3 quality pitches that could turn into something special. If it all comes together for him he could also end up in the top end of a quality starting rotation. Andujar signed his deal for $132,000

*(I offered both guys $100,000 and didn't receive any comments back until they signed. Then it stated they signed for the different amounts. Not sure why that happened, but I had a thing in the Rule 5 draft that wouldn't let me draft anyone after the 1st round. OOTP quirks I guess)

LHRP Terry Forester (17) was drafted in the 3rd round - Pick #49 overall.
Forester was somebody I loved and hoped would be there when we were draft at the top of the 3rd round. He already has a plus fastball and slider and his changeup is "serviceable" according to our scout. He has a great makeup to be a late inning reliever and maybe even a stopper type for us. He signed his rookie contract for $17,800 instead of going to an undecided college.

LHSP Mike Cosgrove (18) signed with the Pilots in the 4th round overall pick #73. He opted not to go to Arizona in signing with us for $11,800. He tosses 4 pitches with a solid sinker and has excellent command with current average control. We will start him as a SP but he might end up as a quality setup type reliever.

RHRP Ed Acosta (25) a bit of an older player in the draft that we took in the 5th Round #97 overall. Definitely a reliever that could maybe break spring camp with the club going to Seattle. Acosta's pitches will not overwhelm anyone but his pinpoint control will set up a lot of easy outs, or so we hope.

The Rest of our Top 10 Draft picks
6th Round Pick RHSP Glenn Abbott
7th Round Pick 2B Douglas Stodgel
8th Round Pick C Pete Dunn
9th Round Pick 2B William Dorothy
10th Round Pick 2B Mark Carlson

Summary - Obviously we had a run on pitchers to add to the organization. With bats already in the system like Gorman Thomas, Earl Williams, Andre Thornton and Phillip Zahn, we felt we had to aggressively attack the pitching depth in our organization. We don't feel that we "reached" for anyone.

Rule 5 Draft -
No big surprise here, we didn't lose anyone. Who did we have that anyone would want that we didn't have protected. Easy answer there, no one.

We did take a flyer on a bat here in CF Willie Montanez (21) out of the Cardinals organization. Montanez was the #98 overall prospect in baseball but broke a bone in his elbow in September by getting hit by a pitch. He is going to be out until spring training so we will try and get him enough at-bats to start the season in Seattle.

Not much else is going on although we will again talk with the Dodgers on 3B Ron Cey and see if their asking price is any lower. He being from Tacoma would be a great fit for us.

We continue to keep our eye on the waiver wire and have been asked by the Padres and Phillies if we wanted any of their attitude problem veterans, which we have politely decline several times.

[DD Martin]

Spring Training Awaits

The rest of the off-season was uneventful for any serious transactions. There were a couple of minor deals and we resolved our AAA team affiliate. We reached agreement with the Portland Beavers to be the new AAA affiliate of the Seattle Pilots.

The AAA Vancouver Mounties who were an independent team last season and only won 25 games was disbanded. In its place was a new team in Salt Lake City who became the AAA farm team of the San Diego Padres. Montreal got a new AAA team as well as they signed on with the a new team in Winnipeg. The club last season played in Buffalo, but because of some issues with the stadium, the team moved in late February to the Canadian City and will be known as the Winnipeg Whips.

We march down to Tempe Arizona for spring training and have 45 players in the major league camp. Last season the Pilots went an unimaginable 20-10 in spring training, then promptly lost 109 games in the regular season.

Prior to spring training our owner offered to up our budget to $2,400,000 which is 20th in the majors. We are well under-spent that so we allocated some extra funds to our minor league and development system. We also upped our budget for the June baseball draft (moved up to June 4th this season).

We have some other goals from Mr. Weyerhauser that we will address at a later date.

Onto Spring Training and the start of the 1970 baseball season.

[luckymann]

All the best for 1970!! Here's to at least a sub 100 loss season to show you are headed in the right direction. Then onward and upwards from there!!

[DD Martin]

Half-way through Spring Training 1970

Well the Pilots aren't going to win 20 spring games this year most likely but that is ok as it didn't fare well for them last season. Currently the team is 7-9 on the spring and there are a few battles shaping up for the remainder of spring and a few youngsters making a push to be on the opening day roster.

First is 20-year-old C Rick Dempsey who is playing very well behind the dish and hitting for a solid spring average 296/367/959 with 2 doubles, a triple, a homer and 4 RBI's in 27AB's. While his push is impressive he will most like start the season at AAA Portland to get PA's and not sit behind starter Greg Goossen. I'd like see a little more out of Goossen who's hitting 190

SS/LF Gorman Thomas has cooled off a bit in this last week but is still hitting 258 with 2 homers and 6 RBI's. I think his future lies in the OF, but most likely he will be starting in Portland as well since he is only 19.

Last year's rookie sensation 3B Danny Walton is hitting just 182 this spring and I am hoping he is just off to a slow start and this isn't the "real" Walton.

Over on the pitching side of things, I wish it was a rosier picture. With the SP there is no real surprise as Mike Marshall 3.75 and Gene Brabender 3.00 are in the top 2 spots and sporting respectable spring ERA's.

A couple of youngsters are making a push for the rotation out of spring training. Dave Bennett 2.16 who came over from Philadelphia in a trade has pitched well in his first two spring outings and he will likely get 3 more starts. The other tossing well in the starting rotation is Fred Beene 3.38 in a couple of starts. Beene was with the Pilots last year and went 8-10 with a horrendous ERA over 6.

In the bullpen, a youngster is leading the charge but it is not the one I thought would be doing it. 5th Round draft pick Ed Acosta, who at 26 years of age is one of the older draft picks in baseball in quite a while. But he has come out of the gates as the surprise closer for Manager Gene Mauch and he has responded with 4 saves and 0.96 ERA. While I don't know if he will start the season at closer yet, it certainly seems like he is pitching his way into the role.

RP Kent Tekulve right now has an ERA of 6.00 in 2 outings. With so few innings pitched it was a bad outing and a good outing so I shouldn't be too alarmed. RP's Gelnar, who closed most games last season, Jack Aker and Dick Bates are all pitching well and seem to have the inside track to 3 of the spots in the pen.

Highly coveted RP Bill Parsons has been a bit on the wild side with 7 walks in 8.1 innings pitched. He is extremely popular with other GM's. His movement and control seems to be his biggest hurdles. He has been talked about in 1 particular deal that I am discussing, but he does have 3 solid major league caliber pitches and has good stamina. I'd like to see him in AAA and working to being a SP.

[DD Martin]

One-Week Left in Spring Training

The Pilots are currently 10-14 this spring and while the record isn't as good there are some good things happening for this organization.

The ownership group has stabilized the franchise and the team seems to now be operating much closer to a professional organization.

The stadium situation while still not great has greatly improved. Bathrooms at the stadium have been improved and now the water pressure at the ballpark is much better (no more 7th inning flush). The locker rooms have been expanded and the field is much more in line with basic MLB requirements.

With the new ownership in place, the City now is back on board with the plans for the new stadium. While the site has moved and that has delayed the new facility by a year, the ballpark will now be in the SoDo District right off the I-5 freeway. The stadium which will be a dome, will also hopefully be the home for a pro football franchise as well someday.

The new Seattle Mayor who was elected last November got on board with the new ownership and is now in office. This is a much better situation for the team in dealing with a new "non-interim" Mayor.

The situation on the field is looking better than the group that ended the season last year after former GM Marvin Milkes traded 6 pitchers before the trade deadline. While the team was under no circumstances in contention they were a much more respectable 31-45. They would only win 22 more games over the last 3 months of the season going 22-64.

Don't expect the Pilots to be a great team but not losing 100 games looks pretty solid if they can round out the pitching staff.

Always looking at ways to better the team, the Pilots have announced a trade.

Trade - Seattle Pilots and the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Pilots trade last year's runner up to the AL Rookie of the Year Award 3B/OF Danny "Mickey" Walton (22) and Rule 5 CF Willie Montanez (21) (prospect #98 overall) to the Dodgers for Washington native 3B Ron "Penguin" Cey (22), LF Willie Crawford (23) and minor league RP Charlie Hough (22) Prospect #101

What we got and Why we did it - Well this deal will raise several eyebrows I am sure in parting with really the biggest thing that was Pilot Baseball in 1969. Trading Walton was not on the top of my mind but as I had mentioned during the Winter Meetings the Dodgers and us discussed several deals but they mainly revolved around Ron Cey and Danny Walton.

In Cey we got a young, local kid returning home (Cey is from Tacoma) and another popular young LF in Willie Crawford. Cey is a more natural 3B than Walton who was probably better suited for the OF. Both of these guys have some popularity in our area and one of our goals is to get the fans more involved with the team. Last year we had below 5,000 season tickets and averaged less than 8,500 a game. To make this team work in Seattle long-term we need to have more fans attend the games. Of course winning is still the primary goal and building a winner will draw fans, but we are obviously several years away from competing for a pennant.

Willie Crawford is an upgrade for us in LF and it was critical that he was included in the deal. RP Hough was more of a throw in to help us part with Montanez in the deal. Montanez never really got a shot in Seattle as when he was drafted in the Rule 5 draft he was recovering from injury. He only just got into training camp a week to 10 days ago and had only received 5 PA hitting 1-5.

While Walton had really struggled this spring with the bat this spring (Hitting 176 3-7) that was not the reason for the trade. The improvement defensively at both 3B and LF (and the overall upgrade in LF) plus a young pitcher with a dancing knuckler.

[DD Martin]

End of Spring Training

The Pilots finished Spring Training by winning their last game against their AL expansion cousins, the Kansas City Royals 6-4. With the victory the Pilots pulled back to 500 for the spring at 15-15.

With the ending of spring comes the fun time of roster decisions and minor league assignments to start the season. Manager Gene Mauch and I have been meeting regularly with Club President Ray Hamey discussing who should stay and who isn't quite ready.

On the financial side of things, we ended up with almost 2800 more season ticket purchases than last season with the current count at 7,694. Next year my personal goal is to hit 10,000 season ticket holders.

Here are the final numbers for Pilot players for the spring.

Next Stop - Season Predictions and Top Prospects

[DD Martin]

Season Predictions for the AL & NL
Plus Top 10 Prospects in Baseball

First we will start with where does the Sporting News think the Pilots will end up in the 1970 season. Will it again be last place in the AL West? Are they still the worst of the new expansion teams of 1969 (KC Royals, Montreal Expos, and San Diego Padres)?

The answer to a few of these questions is that the Seattle Mariners are predicted to finish with a 66-96, which is an improvement of +13 games over last season. They are also predicted not to finish in last place as that honor has been bestowed on the Chicago White Sox (61-101 predicted record).

The order for the 4 expansion teams is as follows
Kansas City Royals (predicted record) 73-89 +1 game over last years 72-90
Montreal Expos (predicted) 68-94 +12 games over last years 56-106
Seattle Pilots (predicted 66-96) +13 over last years 53-109
San Diego Padres (predicated 50-112) -16 games from last years 66-96

AL West - Again looks to be a very close race between the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland A's but we are also adding the California Angels to the mix. These two teams battled all year long with no one taking more than a 3 game advantage during anytime last season. It was really one of the closest season long battles in recent memory. Last season the A's came out on top by a game, this season the Sporting News likes the Twins (93-59) to win by 3 games over the Angels (90-72) and by 5 over the A's (88-74).

AL East - Last year the prediction was the Baltimore Orioles in a runaway and it took them an extra game to get the job done edging out the Red Sox. This year the Sporting News likes, you guess it the Orioles (110-52) to comfortably win by 13 games over the Red Sox (97-65) with the NY Yankees (93-69) taking 3rd. The bottom 3 has the Tigers 70-92 followed closely by both the Cleveland Indians and Washington Senators at (67-95).

NL East - The Sporting News likes the Pittsburgh Pirates (91-71) to once again edge out the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies (88-74) in a hotly contested Eastern Division race. The St Louis Cardinals who won the division in both 67 and 68, fell on hard times last year to finish 33 games off the pace. A new decade doesn't look to change that as the Cards (75-87) are penciled in 4th just ahead of the Chicago Cubs (74-88) with the improving Montreal Expos coming in last at (68-94).

NL West - The Sporting News likes a repeat for the defending AL West Champion Houston Astros (104-58) to not only win the West but also advance to the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers (91-71) and Cincinnati Reds (86-76) will battle for 2nd and 3rd. The Atlanta Braves are trying to get back into a division contention (83-79) and are looking for their first title since 1958. The San Francisco Giants (77-85) have not found what they need yet to get into the title discussion and then the Padres (50-112) really look to struggle.

Playoffs - AL Baltimore over Minnesota 3-0
Playoffs - NL Houston over Pittsburgh 3-2
World Series - Baltimore over Houston 4-2

Prospects - Top 10
#1 - NY Mets LHSP Jon Matlock (20) (up 4 spots from #5)
#2 - Oakland A's RHSP Vida Blue (20) (up 4 spots from #6)
#3 - Minnesota Twins RHSP Bert Blyelven (19) (up 4 spots from #7)
#4 - Cleveland Indians RHP Rich Gossage (18) (New 1st round pick 33 69)
#5 - St Louis Cardinals C Ted Simmons (20) (Up 5 spots from #10)
#6 - Seattle Pilots SP Rick Reuschel (20) (New 1st round pick #1 69)
#7 - Houston Astros C Cliff Johnson (22) (up 2 spots from #9)
#8 - St Louis Cardinals C Brian Downing (19) (New 1st round pick #6 69)
#9 - New York Mets LF Ken Singleton (22) (Up 4 spots from #13)
#10 - Montreal Expos C Darrel Porter (18) (New 1st round pick #2 69)

Seattle Pilots Top 10 Prospects
#1 - Rich Reuschel RHSP (20)
#2 - Skip Lockwood RHSP (23) overall #19
#3 - Bill Parson RHP (21) overall #67
#4 - Joaquin Andujar (17) RHSP Overall #84
#5 - Earl Williams (21) 1B #88 overall
#6 - Charlie Hough (22) RHSP #97 overall
#7 - Terry Forester (18) LHRP #106 overall
#8 - RHP Chuck Murray RHP (25) #126 overall
#9 - Andre Thornton 3B (20) #137 overall
#10 - Phillip Zahn CF (22) #147 overall

Summary - We really upped our game in the last draft on pitching prospects as 7 of the top 8 are pitchers. Since that is such a weakness for us it was a major focus in last years draft. This upcoming draft we will definitely be looking a little less one-sided in the draft and for more balance.

Next up - The Opening Day Roster

[DD Martin]

I forgot the Hall of Fame for in January 1970 so I will include it here.

The ballots are counted and the results are in. This year we will witness three players added to the Hall of Fame. Stan Musial, Early Wynn honor this year in being voted as the newest members of the Hall of Fame.

The full voting results are included here. Players require 75% of ballots cast to be elected to the Hall, may stay on the ballot for up to 10 years if they receive at least 5% of the votes. Players must be retired for 5 years before they are eligible for induction to the Hall of Fame.

Here are the top 10 Vote Getters
1B Stan Musial 99.3 (1st year)
SP Early Wynn 94.1 (1st year)
CF Duke Snider 93.0 (1st year)
RF Enos Slaughter 53.8 (1st year)
SP Billy Pierce 40.7 (1st year)
SS Pee Wee Reese 27.5 (1st year)
SS Vern Stephens 24.2 (1st year)
LF Minnie Minoso 23.1 (1st year)
SP Mike Garcia 22.3 (1st year)
RP Bobby Shantz 14.7 (1st year)

Seattle P-I by J. Michael Kenyon (my vote)
Stan Musial, Early Wynn, Duke Snyder and Pee Wee Reese

[DD Martin]

Pilots Opening Day Roster

The Starting Pitchers

Mike Marshall RHSP age 29 (Last Season-Seattle 5-22 4.05 ERA Career 6-25 10 saves 3.63 ERA). Marshall who lost a league high 22 games last season returns to the hill for the Pilots as the team's #1 SP on Opening Day. 3 Pitches, good stamina (70) equals opening day pitcher in Seattle.

Gene Brabender RHSP age 28 (Last Season Seattle 8-20 4.62 Career 24-34 5 saves 3.93 ERA) Similar story as Marshall. Was on Pilots opening day roster last year as the #5 SP and ended up the #2 guy. 4 pitches but his change isn't very good and solid stamina equals innings eater which is what we need.

Skip Lockwood RHSP age 23 Rookie (Last Season Class A Clinton 6-2 3 saves 2.09) Lockwood who is the #19 prospect pitched well enough to earn a slot in the rotation, but to be the #3 tells you how rough the pitching is still at the big league level. Has 3 plus offerings and excellent stamina. Control will tell the story this season most likely.

Dave Bennett RHSP age 24 Rookie (Last Season AAA Eugene 8-2 1.83) Acquired in a trade with the Phillies Bennett will be making his major league debut. Has 4 pitches including a slider that needs a lot of work still and he has been advised to not throw it often in the big leagues.

Fred Beene RHSP age 27 (Last Season Seattle 8-10 6.26 ERA Career 9-13 1 save 6.13) That ole Fred here is in the rotation, albeit at #5 just goes to show you that no one said it would be easy to build a quality staff. 5 pitches, all average at best and Fred lacks much drive to improve. His time in Seattle is probably short but I don't want to rush anymore guys up.

Summary - I can see why the Sporting News feels that we will allow a few more runs than last season. I believe we have improved our staff but to have 2 20-game losers, 2 rookies and the 5th guy with a career ERA above 6, really points to how long a process this will be. Just saying that and reading it is scary how tough this season could be. We will be on the lookout for any upgrades that we can find on the waiver wire, but the first pass through doesn't offer me much inspiration.

I am determined to not rush any of the guys we draft last year up to the big leagues and would prefer them all to get at least this year under their belts in the minors.

Bullpen
Ed Acosta RH Stopper age 26 Rookie
Acosta surprised in spring training with getting Manager Mauch's faith early and converted all save opportunities that he was handed. The rookie was a 5th rounder likely because of his age, but because of his age he is getting a shot right away in the big leagues.

John Gelnar RHRP age 26 (Last Season Seattle 9-10 19 saves 2.93 ERA Career 9-11 19 saves 3.85) Little surprising to not see Gelnar return as the stopper as he convert 19 out of 26 opportunities. Yes being above 80-85 is preferred so if it was that or the 10 losses out of the pen that push Gene Mauch to this choice we are not sure.

John W Morris LHRP age 28 (Last Season Seattle 1-3 7.88 ERA career 4-4 5.69 ERA) The fact that Morris survived spring training to return to the Pilots after posting those numbers last year shows just how desperate the team is for pitching and lefty pitching to boot. The fact that he is a MR is just down right scary. Hopefully Aker is back soon.

Dick Bates RHRP age 24 (Last season Seattle 2-5 5.79 ERA 1st MLB Season) Last year Bates was called up to plug the holes in the SP situation after the July Purge of former GM Marvin Milkes. Hopefully in a less stressful long relief situation he might show better and can try to stay in the Seattle pen. He could fill a spot starter role if someone goes down to injury in the starting 5.

Marcelino Lopez LHRP Age 26 (Last Season Seattle 2-3 4.69 ERA Career 25-32 2 saves 3.68 ERA) Lopez started 8 times last season after the Purge and was a front runner for a starting position until spring. An unspectacular spring moved him to the bullpen, but odds are he will end up with some starts and maybe as early as late April.

Summary - In a storyline following spring training, Manager Gene Mauch has announced that his Stopper to start the season will be veteran rookie Ed Acosta (26). John Gelnar will be the primary setup bridge to get to Acosta after serving primarily as the stopper last season. Jack Aker (DL) has been slow to return from injury and will start the season on the DL most likely for 2 more weeks. Then he will probably get a week in Portland (AAA) to prepare for a call up. Lopez and Morris are left-handed and the only ones we have on the staff so they will stay until we find someone better. Actually Lopez will like be the next SP in line if anyone is injury or one of the SP is too ineffective. Dick Bates is occupying Aker's spot.

Position Players -
Catcher
Greg Goossen RH Age 24 (Last Season Seattle 221/287/685 22-68 Career 215/280/637 24-84) Will likely never hit for a high average but emerged last year with a power bat (2nd on the team in HR) and very good defense. He is looking to cut down on the number of pass balls this season (20 last year) and threw out 35% of the base stealers.

Andy Etchebarren RH Age 26 (Last Season 208/260/604 4-10 Career 217/293/643 29-127) Acquired mid season last year from Baltimore off waivers. Served as Goossen's backup and returns to the role this season. To say he held off Rick Dempsey's arrive in Seattle is an over-statement, the organization just wants Dempsey playing everyday.

Summary - Defensively these two are solid with Goossen being an excellent defender and Etchebarren is above average. Neither can hit very much for average or get on base. So defense for now, rues the day. We will be looking for a left handed upgrade to back up.

Infielders (Starters in bold)
Earl Williams 1B RH Age 22 Rookie MLB Debut(Last Season AAA Baltimore 333/414/1034 34 -88) Williams acquired in the off-season in a trade with Baltimore has a lot of power which the Pilots hope materializes in his big league debut. The fact that he can play some corner OF is a plus for the future with Andre Thornton looming in the minors.

Winston Llenas 2B RH Age 26 (Last season Sea/Cal 274/333/758 9-36 Career 258/318/713 9-37) Acquired in the July Purge from the Angels. His defensive profiles fits better at 2B than at SS but he can go back to SS if need be.

Gorman Thomas SS RH Age 19 (Last Season 211/274/591 2-11 debut) Thomas was rushed up to the big leagues last season and GM Martin didn't want him to start the year in Seattle, but allowed Manager Mauch to bring him up to see if he and the coaches can get him untracked at the big league level. Thomas brings monstrous power as a SS or any position actually and his bat is what has fans drooling. It just might need some more seasoning.

Ron Cey 3B RH Age 22 Last Season LAD 256/381/765 2-12 Debut) Acquired during spring training in the Danny Walton deal, Cey is a player that profiles to be a solid defender and above average power bat. Being a prominent local high school player is just one of the reason the Pilots wanted to bring him to Seattle.

Dick Nen 1B LH Age 30 (Last Season Seattle 333/345/826 1-8 Career 228/290/631 22-115) Loud mouth 1B was shopped around some and will likely continue to be. Serves as a left handed pinch hitter and that is about it. He does have an excellent defensive glove at 1B.

Tommy Harper 2B/3B/OF age 29 (Last Season Seattle 248/333/646 7-32 Career 251/330/684 57-235) Versatile veteran has plenty of speed with 54 SB last season and 189 for his career. With his ability to play multiple position he could see more playing time just giving rest to players each week.

Ray Oyler SS RH Age 31 (Last Season Seattle 179/292/562 6-19 career 179/266/521 14-82) Oyler is an excellent defender but unfortunately can't hit at all. Some have started calling his batting average the Oyler line with his career 179 average. Defense is great but you have to be able to make contact to stay in the big leagues. Somehow Oyler has managed parts of 5 seasons in the big leagues and begins his 6th.

Fred Stanley SS RH Age 22 Rookie (Last Season Class A Clinton 288/360/721 4-47 big league debut). Excellent defensive middle infielder but can likely hit above the Oyler line. The expectation is 250 but his defense would more than make up for it. If Thomas struggles expect "Chicken" Stanley to take over.

Summary - Maybe the most made over portion of the team in the off-season by GM Martin. Williams and Cey are new additions, with Llenas moving to 2B and then rookie Gorman Thomas at SS because his bat is a difference maker. Still not sold on Thomas as a SS. The bench has veteran trouble maker Dick Nen, along with Tommy Harper 2B and a couple of SS in Ray Oyler and Fred Stanley to round out the group. The starting group is extremely young at an average age of 22.

Outfield
Willie Crawford LF LH Age 23 (Last Season LAD 279/359/785 14-70 Career 269/348/757 18-84) Acquired with Cey in the Danny Walton deal in Spring Training. Already appears to be the most consistent professional hitter on the team. Has LF on lock down and the Pilots hope he is there a long time.

Jim Gosger CF LH Age 27 (Last Season Seattle 209/277/669 21-51 Career 226/305/666 45-171) Gosger is an excellent defensive CF who might have a shot at a Gold Glove. While he hit for some power, his lack of consistent contact is one reason teams have give up on him in the past. To stick long term in Seattle he is going to have to raise that batting average and I'm not sure he can do it.

Johnny Callison RF LH Age 31 (Last Season Philadelphia 214/273/608 4-21 Career 268/335/787 177-647) Most senior member as far as playing time on the Pilots team with over 5000 career plate appearances. Last season was unfortunately his worst offensive season of his career while is likely why Philly traded him. Pilots are hoping for a career normal season from him.

Tommy Davis OF RH Age 31 (Last Season Seattle 281/314/720 3-8 career 299/332/762 113-596) Last year he was the most called upon pinch hitter for the Pilots and appears to be returning to that role this season. Davis was a career 300 hitter before hitting 281 last season. There are some rumors that the club might try and trade him to give him a chance on a contending team if there is interest.

Steve Whitaker OF LH Age 26 (Last Season Class A Clinton 280/345/574 33-104 MLB Career 231/281/644 18-68) Solid all around defend in the OF with some power in his bat but do not expect 30+ homers he hit in Class A against over matched pitching.

Summary - The OF has some strengths with LF Crawford and the bench. RF with Callison will be ok if he can regain his swing and CF is probably just waiting on prospect Phillip Zahn to be ready for the big leagues. Davis as a pinch hitter is solid, but the veteran is not the happiest camper in the world right now. Crawford is a decent 4th OF.

Overall Summary - Right now with the pitching I'm struggling to see how this is a better team than last season. Maybe I'm just too tough a critic. The Seattle P-I (Optimistically) thinks we could get to 70 wins. Right now I'm thinking 64-98, just so we don't hit 100+ losses again.

Moves - To put SP Skip Lockwood on the 40 man roster we had to DFA 3B Rich Rollins who was at Class A Clinton.

In a player to watch, the LA Dodgers who received Rule 5 Pick Willie Montenaz in the Danny Walton deal with us has returned him to St. Louis. That might be a player we try and reacquire as a minor league player and have him in Portland or Clinton this season. We will look into that as we liked Montanez.

Next - Finally Opening Day is Here!

[DD Martin]

Opening Day 1970

Two games were on tap in the official Opening Day of baseball for the 1970 season. In the National League the Montreal Expos traveled to face the Cincinnati Reds, which in the American League Detroit Tigers faced the Washington Senators.

In a tight pitchers duel the home standing Senators scored 2 in the 5th and made it stand up thanks to the 3 hit pitching of Dick Bosman who went 8 innings to get the 2-1 win.

In the NL a surprise to be sure as the visiting Expos jumped on Reds young SP Ross Grimsley for 5 runs in the first inning in coasting to a 9-1 victory over the stun fans at brand new Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

Back in Seattle
In the Seattle Front Office, the tinkering with the Pilots roster was still ongoing less than 24 hours before their opening day in Kansas City. Rumors are running rampant that the Pilots are looking to add some players to their team, but sources are unsure if this will be via the waiver wire or the trade front. This is a lot of speculation that the Pilots will likely talk to St. Louis to try and re-acquire minor league CF Willie Montanez who was returned by the Dodgers via the Rule 5. Montanez was originally drafted by the Pilots in the Rule 5 draft in December but then late in spring training was sent to the Dodgers in the Ron Cey-Danny Walton deal. The Dodgers who are competing to win the NL West decided they didn’t want to stash Montanez on their 25 man roster the whole season so they sent him back.

Besides those two options (Waivers and Montanez) the Pilots are said to be shopping veteran OF Tommy Davis. Davis appears to be fairly unhappy not so much with his role but with the young players that Seattle has and wants to go to a contending team. Whether something happens before the first pitch tomorrow in Kansas City is anyone’s guess.

While this was going on in our office the team was getting prepared to face the Royals. Everyone was excited for opening day of the season, or so we thought (see below).

Seattle Pilots at Kansas City Royals
So the Pilots open the season expansion their American League expansion cousins, and the team that forced them into play several seasons before they were ready. A strange tension had been built between these two teams with Kansas City based on last season having the advantage. Last season the Royals won 12 of the 18 games between the 2 teams and the Pilots would like nothing better than to return that favor.

Starting Pitchers (last season records)
Game 1 Mike Marshall 5-22 4.05 vs Dick Drago 11-11 3.62
Game 2 Gene Brabender 8-20 4.62 vs Roger Nelson 13-10 3.48
Game 3 Skip Lockwood 0-0 0.00 vs Wally Bunker 8-16 4.66

Starting Lineups
Seattle Kansas City
LF Willie Crawford 3B Joe Foy
2B Winston Llenas 2B Paul Schaal
1B Earl Williams LF Lou Pinella
RF Johnny Callison 1B Mike Fiore
C Greg Goossen RF Bob Oliver
SS Gorman Thomas CF Ed Kirkpatrick
3B Ron Cey SS Luis Alcaraz
CF Jim Gosger C Robert Burrows

No additional moves by the Pilots have been made prior to the opening pitch of this game so it looks like we are ready to play ball from KC.

Seattle Pilots 0-0 @ Kansas City Royals
April 7, 1970
Royals Hope Opening Day Win Bodes Well for Season 5-2
The 1970 season is off to a good start for the Kansas City Royals. The hometown Royals knocked off the Seattle Pilots, 5-2, at Municipal Stadium. Kansas City center fielder Ed Kirkpatrick paced his team to the win. Dick Drago got the win, improving to 1-0. He worked 6.2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits, while striking out 4 and walking 1. Mike Hedlund sewed up the save, his 1st.

In the bottom of the first, Bob Oliver hit a 2-run double. The 1st double of the season for the Kansas City right fielder put the Royals on top, 2-0.

"At the end of the day, it's always about your starting pitcher," said Kansas City skipper Joe Gordon.
WP - Dick Drago 1-0 2.70 LP - Mike Marshall 0-1 99.99 S- Mike Hedlund 1 0.00
Home Runs: Sea - J. Callison (1, 2nd Inning off D. Drago, 0 on, 0 outs) KC - E. Kirkpatrick (1, 8th Inning off J. Gelnar, 1 on, 1 out)

Notes - What the news article didn't talk about was the stunning departure of Pilots SP Mike Marshall after facing just 1 batter. After serving up his 2nd pitch of the game to 3B Joe Foy who doubled, Marshall summoned both the trainer and manager out to the mound. Then in something I've never seen he simply walked off the mound. The Pilots brought out RP Dick Bates to take over but he was not very prepared or effective to come out so soon. Needless to say that after the game my conversation with manager Gene Mauch was very lively and blunt.

Game #2 Seattle Pilots 0-1 @ Kansas City Royals 1-0
April 8, 1970
Seattle Beats Kansas City, 4-2
Seattle turned a good effort from starter Gene Brabender into a win over the Kansas City Royals at Municipal Stadium. The final score was 4-2. Brabender went the distance for Seattle. He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits. The win gives Seattle a record of 1-1.

The Pilots got a lift from first baseman Earl C Williams, who in the top of the seventh stroked a first pitch fastball into center for a run-scoring single. It was his 2nd hit of the season and put the Pilots ahead, 3-1.

"If we play like this, we can win a lot of games," Williams told the Seattle Today. Pilot Manager Gene Mauch still looking upset about yesterday added "It's nice to see what we can do when we have someone out on the mound that is supporting his teammates and doesn't quit.

WP - Gene Brabender 1-0 2.00 LP - Roger Nelson 0-1 4.26
Home Runs: Sea - none KC - P. Schaal (1, 8th Inning off G. Brabender, 0 on, 0 outs) E. Kirkpatrick (2, 4th Inning off G. Brabender, 0 on, 1 out)

Trade Interlude - So with the issues in our opening game I put off a phone call to finalize a trade with the New York Mets. But after the game today we got together and finished the deal.

The New York Mets and Seattle Pilots Get together in a 5-player swap. The Pilots trade veterans 1B Dick Nen and LF Tommy Davis along with minor league 2B Pedro Garcia to the Mets for RF Ron Swoboda and minor league SP Jim Bibby.

Game 3 - Seattle Pilots 1-1 @ Kansas City Royals 1-1
April 9th, 1970
Royals Walk It Off for 2nd Win of Season 8-7
Joe Foy was instrumental in his team's 8-7 triumph over the Seattle Pilots. The third baseman was 4 for 6 with a home run and 3 singles. He scored 2 times and drove in 3 for the Kansas City Royals. Kansas City reliever Doug Bird was the winner. His record is now 1-0. The losing pitcher was Ed Acosta. The loss has the Pilots at 1-2.

To win this one, the Royals needed Foy to deliver the clutch hit. His run-scoring single off Seattle hurler Ed Acosta in the bottom of the ninth won the game.

"We fed off the energy of the crowd at the end," Foy said.

WP - Doug Bird 1-0 0.00 LP - Ed Acosta 0-1 10.80

Thoughts - So a bizarre 1-2 start to the season with the first game mess with the Marshall situation. The team has an off day Friday before a short 2 game series with the A's in Oakland. I am arriving to meet with both Manager Gene Mauch and also to talk to Mike Marshall and see if I can figure out what the heck is going on. I talked to our team trainer and he can't find anything physically wrong with Marshall.

Great outing from Gene Brabender who will slotted as our #2 SP just moved up to #1 and will get the Opening Day assignment in Seattle on Monday against the Twins.

The 3rd game was a frustrating one as it was one that we had, but rookie stopper Ed Acosta gave up single runs in the 8th and 9th innings to blow the game. While it is just one game, it is an alarming although not completely unexpected development.

Next - Oakland A's for a short 2-game series.

ooc- I would normally complete a whole week but with the SP situation with Mike Marshall we will look to see if we can find a better solution. I'll be honest I have never seen a starter leave after a batter (and the game crashed on me the first time I ran it so it happened twice so it must be meant to happen). No injury noted, no reason why he left the mound so we will work it into his "unmotivated" story line.

I'm also tinkering with the format a bit so expect to see some different ones as we go forward until I find one I like.

[DD Martin]

2-game series Seattle Pilots @ Oakland A's

The team arrived on Friday morning in Oakland and had the quirky off day on Friday. I met with Manager Gene Mauch who said he had a long chat with Mike Marshall on the flight from KC. Apparently Marshall was upset about a personal problem that occurred prior to leaving Arizona on the way to KC for the opening series. While Mauch was sympathetic to Marshall he stressed that he needs to be able to come forward and talk with him and his coaches. If that was going to be an issue then they would have to figure something else out (Dr. Basil/Dr. Freedman?). So the situation seems to be sorted out. (Now the reality of the issue I finally figured out when I went to go move Marshall out of the #1 spot in the rotation. Somehow my fat fingers must have hit the number 2 and that is the real reason why Marshall left after 1 batter. Should have known it was human error).

So with the Marshall situation at least now in the rear view mirror maybe the team can concentrate on the job at hand, dealing with last years AL West Winner and contender this season the Oakland A's. The A's drubbed the Pilots in 13 of the 18 meetings last year so I'd like to see some improvement in that area by at least a couple of games (fingers crossed). The pitching match ups for this season don't make me feel very comfortable about our chances.

Pitching Match ups
Seattle Oakland
Dave Bennett (MLB Debut) vs Catfish Hunter (10-9 3.14 last season)
Fred Beene (8-10 6.26) vs Jim Nash (14-9 3.38)

Seattle Pilots 1-2 @ Oakland A's 2-0
Saturday April 11, 1970
Athletics Take Down Pilots, 8-7
Rick Monday helped his team muscle past the Seattle Pilots, 8-7. In the game, the Oakland center fielder went 2 for 3 with a home run and a walk, while adding 4 RBI and scoring once. Oakland reliever Jim Roland was the winner. His record is now 1-0. John Gelnar took the loss. Seattle falls to 1-3.

The Athletics procured the win, in large part because of third baseman Sal Bando. In the bottom of the tenth, he produced the game-winning run-scoring single.

"It's great to get the crowd pumped up," Monday said.

WP - Jim Roland 1-0 3.38 LP - John Gelnar 0-1 6.75
Home Runs: S. Bando (2, 2nd Inning off D. Bennett, 0 on, 0 outs) R. Monday (2, 4th Inning off D. Bennett, 2 on, 2 outs) D. Green (1, 5th Inning off D. Bennett, 0 on, 0 outs) B. Brooks (3, 8th Inning off E. Acosta, 0 on, 0 outs), Sea - none

Seattle Pilots 1-3 @ Oakland A's 3-0
Sunday April 12, 1970
Pilots Lose to Athletics, 9-7
The Oakland Athletics powered past the Seattle Pilots, 9-7, at Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 3 for 4 with a home run, 2 singles, and a walk. He scored 2 times and drove in 2, to lead the charge. Oakland reliever Paul Lindblad picked up the win to move to 1-0. John Gelnar suffered the loss. The Athletics raised their record to 4-0.

Oakland center fielder Bobby Brooks said he was just trying to make contact when he came to bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. He did more than that -- Brooks hit a grand slam home run to stake Oakland to a 9-5 lead. His 4th home run of the season came off Seattle pitcher John Gelnar.

"We'll put this win in our pocket and go after the next one," said Brooks.

WP - Paul Lindblad 1-0 0.00 LP - John Gelnar 0-2 11.81
Home Runs: Sea - G. Goossen (1, 9th Inning off J. Roland, 1 on, 2 outs) Oak - J. Rudi (1, 5th Inning off F. Beene, 0 on, 0 outs) R. Jackson (1, 4th Inning off F. Beene, 1 on, 0 outs) B. Brooks (4, 7th Inning off J. Gelnar, 3 on, 0 outs)

Season record 1-4
Road record 1-4

GM Comments - So a tough start to the season for us as we limp back home to Seattle after our bullpen blew two games in Oakland. Yes John Gelnar who was moved into the stopper role after the first game when Ed Acosta blew his 2nd straight save opportunity. Gelnar didn't blow any save chances but was soundly rough up in taking the 2 losses.

Right now the only thing keeping us out of the cellar is that the Chicago White Sox might be as bad as advertised as they are 0-6 on the season. Speaking of the White Sox they were who I had lined up a trade with in regards to starting pitching. Since the situation has worked itself out for now with Marshall I will hold off, but it is still a move I might make.

I did have a conversation over the weekend in Oakland with the St. Louis Cardinals in regards to CF Willie Montanez. I am not sure why I am so interested in bring him back, he looks only to be an average player and there are probably better more important things for me to do than to chase him down. The Cards and me couldn't come up to an agreeable deal so we will move on from that for now.

Next Up - Pilots season opening home stand

[DD Martin]

Home Sweet Home?

The Pilots come home to start a 10-game home stand after struggling to a 1-4 start on the season on the road. First up the Minnesota Twins for 2 games, then the winless Chicago White Sox come to town followed by the bad boys of Oakland, the A's for 3. Next week we will conclude our home stand against the Kansas City Royals for 3 games. 10 games in all 6-4 would be nice but would be happy with 5-5.

Monday April 13th
Minnesota Twins 4-2 4
Seattle Pilots 1-4 6

Nice home opener in front of 25,639 fans at old Sick's Stadium. SP Gene Brabender pitched his 2nd straight complete game and is no 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA on the season. 3B Ron Cey hit his first homer in a Pilots uniform, with C Greg Goossen and RF Jim Calison both hitting their 2nd homers on the season.

WP - Gene Brabender 2-0 3.00 LP - Jim Kaat 0-2 2.81

Tuesday April 14th
Minnesota Twins 4-3 12
Seattle Pilots 2-4 10

Ron Cey doubled in the 8th with one out and stole 3rd base. Then PH Ron Swoboda hit a sac fly to drive in Cey and the Pilots took an 8-7 lead heading into the dreaded 9th inning. RP Marcelino Lopez came in and promptly loaded the bases with 2 singles and a walk. A single by Cesar Tovar tied the game and then 1B Harmon Killebrew hit a grand slam to dash the Pilots winning streak. The Pilots made it exciting in the 9th plating 2 runs but it wasn't enough.

WP - Bob Miller 1-0 6.75 LP - Marcelino Lopez 0-1 13.50

Wednesday April 15th
Chicago White Sox 0-7 3
Seattle Pilots 2-5 1

The Pilots waste a great pitching performance by rookie Skip Lockwood who went 8 innings and gave up on 3 runs, but was outdueled by Joe Horlen who pitched complete game 7 hitter. Manager Gene Mauch was quite irate after the game complaining that the Pilots let down after the tough loss on Tuesday and let a winless team come in a shut them down.

WP - Joe Horlen 1-1 1.93 LP - Skip Lockwood 0-1 3.95

Thursday April 16th
Chicago White Sox 1-7 5
Seattle Pilots 2-6 1

Things had to get better right? WRONG! 20-year-old White Sox SP Bart Johnson threw 8 innings of 2 hit ball as the White Sox take both games of the series and pull the Pilots into a tied for last in the AL West. Pilot SP Dick Bennett pitched well but a costly error by SS Gorman Thomas allowed 3 unearned runs to score in the 7th breaking up a scoreless time. Bennett goes 7 and gives up 3 runs none earned allowing just 6 hits.

WP - Bart Johnson 1-1 2.65 LP - Dick Bennett 0-1 3.75

Friday April 17th
Oakland A's 5-3 9
Seattle Pilots 2-7 2

The Pilots home slide has reach 4 straight as the bats fall silent once again managing just 6 hits and the only scoring was on LF Willie Crawford's 2-run homer in the 6th that gave the Pilots a brief 2-0 lead. The A's didn't waste anymore time as they quickly dropped 7 runs on SP Fred Beene and RP Dick Bates in the 7th. Before the 7th inning Beene had only give up 3 hits, but the A's rapped out 9 hits in the inning against the two pitchers.

WP - Blue Moon Odom 2-0 4.57 LP - Fred Beene 0-1 7.71

Saturday April 18th
Oakland A's 6-3 3
Seattle Pilots 2-8 4 (11 innings)

It took overtime, but the Pilots broke their losing streak in a big extra innings win over the mighty A's 4-3. In the bottom of the 11th rookie backup 3B Lou Quinn hit a solo home run to send the fans home happy. 1B Earl Williams also hit his first home run of the season. SP Gene Brabender once again pitched a very effective ball game for the Pilots. RP Dick Bates benefited from the Quinn homer to get the win in relief pitching 2 scoreless innings.

WP - Dick Bates 1-0 5.00 LP - Paul Lindblad 1-1 1.80

Sunday April 19th
Oakland A's 6-4 4
Seattle Pilots 3-8 5

The Pilots ran their mini-win streak to 2 games by scoring 4 in the first inning but then needing LF Willie Crawford's RBI Double in the 7th to earn a 5-4 victory over the A's. SP Mike Marshall who is trying to redeem himself after the meltdown in KC went 7 innings for his first win of the season. C Greg Goossen hit his 3rd home run of the season with a 2-run shot in the first.

WP - Mike Marshall 1-1 7.50 LP Chuck Dobson 1-2 1.96
S - John Gelnar 1 7.15

Week in review - A win to start the week, and 2 on Saturday and Sunday would be a good week except for the mid-week 4 game losing streak where the bats fell silent and 3 of those 4 games. Right now we have scored the 5th most runs in the AL with 56, but we have given up the 11th worst 72 to show why we are 4-8. At least with taking the last 2 against the A's if we can get 2 out of 3 versus the Royals next week we will end the home stand at 5-5. Its not great but it would be a positive start to build on.

The biggest issues in the pitching staff have been Mike Marshall 7.50 and the bullpen 6.68. So far the RP has been pretty brutal and we have blown at least 4 saves so far as a team. That has got to change and change soon.

Next week sees the Royals come to town Monday-Wednesday before we have a travel day on Thursday and then end the week in the Bronx against the New York Yankees. We will follow that up with 7 more games on the East Coast against the Red Sox for 4 games and then head to the Nation's Capital for 3 against the Senators.

Pilots of the Week
Batting - 3B Ron Cey 10-24 417 2 HR 6 RBI's
Pitching - SP Gene Brabender 1-0 3.86 ERA 16.1 IP 13 K's

The Farm Report
The minor league season got underway this past week and it was quite the week for the new Portland Beavers who started the season 6-0. Charlie Hough has been lights out in his first two starts going 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA. Hough's knuckler seems to have really found the zone early so far this season. If he keeps it up we might have to look at him to come up sooner rather than later. Leading the Beavers offensive charge is 3B Andre Thornton who clubbed 6 home runs and drove in 12 RBI's in those 6 games while hitting 435.


Next - Can the Pilots salvage a 500 home stand before going out on an 10 game East Coast swing through New York, Boston and Washington?

[DD Martin]

Finishing the Home Stand then off to the East Coast

Well we enter this week feeling a little better than we were say mid-week. While 4-8 to start the season is not a great start, its better than 2-12 which the NL West San Francisco Giants stand right now. Kansas City comes into town 7-6 record on the season and took 2 out of 3 against us in KC. That last one was a bitter pill to swallow as we blew the game in the 8th and 9th inning. Right now our bullpen appears to be more of an Achilles Heel than our starting pitching, but its early. The two rookies SP Skip Lockwood and SP Dave Bennett have held up pretty well so far.

So far we are 3-4 on this home stand so it takes us winning 2 out of 3 to get to 500 on the 10-games and takes a sweep to go the original stated goal of 6-4. Right now I'll be happy with 2 out of 3 before we go on this 10-game East Coast swing. A bad finish to this home stand and a poor road trip really will take a lot of the excitement out of the season by the first week of May.

Pitching Match Ups for the KC Series
KC Mike Hedmund 0-1 2.19 (1 start of the season) vs Sea Skip Lockwood 0-1 3.95
KC Chris Zachary 0-1 7.07 vs Sea Dave Bennett 0-1 3.75
KC Dick Drago 1-2 3.00 vs Fred Beene 0-1 7.71

Monday April 21st
Kansas City 7-6 10
Seattle Pilots 4-8 11
Entering the bottom of the 9th trailing 10-5, the Pilots finally did it to another team. The Pilots score 6 as 2B Winston Llenas capped off a furious comeback with a game ending single scoring Tommy Harper for the 11-10 win. John Morris got the win after coming in the top of the 9th in a mop up role.

WP - John Morris 1-0 0.00 LP - Steve Dunning 0-1 81.00
HR - Sea - Andy Atchebarren 1st KC - none

Tuesday April 22nd
Kansas City Royals 7-7 0
Seattle Pilots 5-8 6

The Pilots came in looking for their 4 straight win and got a brilliant pitching performance from Dave Bennett went 8.2 inning giving up 7 hits and no runs. SS Gorman Thomas hit his 1st home run of the season, a 2-run shot in the 6th to back Bennett's pitching heroics. The Pilots return tomorrow to see if they can end this home stand on a 5 game winning streak and have a winning record on the stand.

WP - Dave Bennett 1-1 2.18 LP - Chris Zachary 0-2 6.86
HR - Sea - Gorman Thomas (1) KC - none

Wednesday April 22nd
Kansas City Royals 7-8 3
Seattle Pilots 6-8 10

The Royals had tied the game in the top of the 5th at 3-3 with Paul Schall's 2-run homer. The Pilots came up in the bottom of the 5th and Greg Goossen hit his 2nd home run of the day, but this one in the bottom of the 5th was a grand slam. The Pilots led 7-3 and coasted to their 5th straight win 10-3.

WP - Fred Beene 1-1 6.27 LP - Dick Drago 1-3 5.04
HR - Sea - Greg Goossen 2 (5), KC - Paul Schall (2), Bob Oliver (2)
Seattle Record 7-8
Seattle Home Record 6-4

Thoughts - What a way to finish out the home stand. The Pilots sweep the Royals in this 3 game series and take a 4-2 lead on the season series between the two AL expansion teams. It really is a nice boost for the guys as they head to New York and while the Yankees are struggling a bit at 6-10, its still the bright lights big city New York Yankees. Can the Pilots keep the magic going? Thursday is a travel day so we open the series with the Yankees on Friday night.

New York Series Pitching Match Ups
Sea Gene Brabender 2-0 3.20 vs NY Stan Bahnsen 1-2 7.13
Sea Mike Marshall 1-1 7.50 vs NY Fred Talbot 0-2 10.13
Sea Skip Lockwood 0-1 4.26 vs NY Mel Stottlemyre 1-2 3.98

Friday April 24th
Seattle Pilots 7-8 3
New York Yankees 6-10 7 (11)

Once again for the Pilots Gene Brabender pitched very well and should have won this game. The Pilots were ahead 3-0 entering the 9th, then Rusty Torres hit a HR to lead off the 9th. 1 out later Edward Gagle reached on a Gorman Thomas error to bring up the tying run. Enter stopper John Gelnar who promptly gave up a double to Frank Hernadez. Tying runs on 2nd and 3rd and Thurman Munson hits a bat back to the pitcher, but then Gelnar throws wild to first and both runs score to tie the game 3-3. In the 11th Roy White hits a grand slam off RP Jack Aker for the 7-3 win.

WP - Lindy McDaniel 1-1 1.23 LP - Jack Aker 0-1 30.00
HR - Sea -none, NY - Rusty Torres (2), Roy White (2)

Saturday April 25th
Seattle Pilots 7-9 6
New York Yankees 7-10 5

The Pilots hung on for dear life in this one as RP John Gelnar escapes the 9th giving up a home run to Edward Gagle but managing 2 outs to "save" the victory for Mike Marshall. RF Johnny Callison and 3B Ron Cey both hit home runs in the 2nd off Fred Talbot to give the Pilots an early 4-2 lead. SP Mike Marshall did just enough to get his 2 win going 8.1 and giving up 4 runs on 8 hits.

WP - Mike Marshall 2-1 6.20 LP - Fred Talbot 0-3 9.22 S - John Gelnar 2 6.43
HR - Sea - Ron Cey (3), Johnny Callison (3), Jim Gosger (1)
HR - NY - Fred Talbot (1), Edward Gagle (1)

Sunday April 25th
Seattle Pilots 8-9 0
New York Yankees 7-11 6

Yankees SP Mel Stottlemyer was in complete control tossing a 5-hit complete game shutout against the Pilots. All the hits given up by Stottlemyer were singles as the Pilots just couldn't mount any sort of offense. Rookie SP Skip Lockwood had his first real rough outing giving up 6 earned runs in 7.2 innings. Pilots next head to Boston for 4 games at Fenway Park.

WP - Mel Stottlemyer 2-2 2.76 LP - Skip Lockwood 0-2 5.06
HR - None
Seattle Record 8-10
Seattle Road Record 2-6

Thoughts - Well the team showed a lot of spirit in splitting those first two games. Again the bullpen did us in during that first game. Gelnar has struggled most of the early season and Jack Aker was probably rushed back into the lineup and hasn't found his form yet.

That last game, Stottlemyer was just sharp and we looked like we stayed up all night in Times Square. Hopefully the trip to Boston will get the team to relax, but Fenway Park is no picnic and neither are the Red Sox who are 10-6 on the season.

We are awaiting word on the injury to C Greg Goossen who was hit by a pitch on Saturday. We have summoned C Rick Dempsey to be on stand by in case we need him in Boston. He left Portland tonight and should be ready if need at the park Monday.

Pilots Stars of the Week
Batting - Greg Goossen 333 (4-12) 2 HR 9 RBI's
Pitching - Dave Bennett 1-0 0.00 in 8.2 IP

On the Farm -
Last week we concentrated on the AAA Portland Beavers, this week we head to the Midwest League to check on the Clinton Pilots who are 5-8 on the season.

C Larry Haney is 3-11 had 3 hits on the week but all 3 of his hits are home runs. On the season he is hitting 286 with 4 HR and 9 RBI's. Corner IF's Ralph Manfredi (3B) and Lenny Baxley (1B) are hitting 433 and 385 respectively on the season.

On the pitching side Jim Slaton has a record of 0-1 with 1 saves and a 0.00 ERA in 6.2 IP. Right now he is pitching in the bullpen but I know the Pilots would like to move him to the rotation in Clinton. Rookie SP and top draft pick Rich Reuschel is 2-1 on the young season but has struggled a bit with an ERA over 6.00 in 3 starts. He was walked only 7 while striking out 19 but has given up double digit hits in each of his first 3 games.

[Bub13]

Go Pilots!

What does it say about me that I can remember a Winston Llenas baseball card back that said "Winston was named after Winston Churchill" but can't remember what I had for dinner two nights ago.